Tangier

Morocco

July 2007
2 days

Sun 29 July
After a painfully slow journey, we finally made it to Tangier in Morocco. What a difference a tiny stretch of water makes! The people there are pretty poor, the streets are smelly, the beach is filthy, people set up shop pretty much anywhere even if they're only selling a couple of random things, and there was no way we were buying any food off the street, it was definitely an eye-opener.
We stayed in a pension in the old town and had a good walk around the markets and the medina, and along the dirty beach. The markets were awesome, so colourful and there were so many different smells, mainly of spices being sold out of huge sacks.
We were so lucky because the King of Morocco was coming through that afternoon to take a ferry over to Spain, so everyone had lined the streets, playing instruments and dancing around waiting to catch a glimpse of him. When he did come past it was a bit of a blur because he sped along in his big black mercedes, but the people were pretty excited about it. Later on there were fireworks and bands and parades in the streets, it was crazy.
Mon 30 July
Had a good walk around the kasbah and bought a couple of things as souveniers, but there wasn't as much action as the day before. Decided to get back and try and catch a mechanic before they all closed in Gibraltar but we had a very delayed and long journey back again so that didn't end up happening.